Lot’s Privileged Life in Sodom

Lot, Abraham’s nephew, sits at Sodom’s gate (19:1).

What is the significance of Lot being seated at Sodom’s gate? It’s likely that Avraham’s victory over Chedorlaomer’s and three other powerful Mesopotamian kings’ assault on the city states of the Plain (Gen 14) resulted in Lot being perhaps promoted or having favored status conferred upon him by the citizens of Sodom. Why? No doubt his advancement in Sodom’s society came because of his relationship to Avraham, and maybe to some lesser degree, the wealth he accumulated while being attached to his uncle and bringing the wealth along with him to the area gave him a leg-up among the elite of Sodom society (Gen 13).

Some commentators suggest that Lot’s advancement in Sodom’s society included him being a community elder and or leader. Moshe’s notation that Lot was “sitting at the gateway of Sodom” clearly reveals Lot’s exalted position in Sodom society. For those who sat at the gateway of ancient Near Eastern cities did so for purposes of conducting business and tending to the legal affairs of the city. (Reference New Living Translation Study Bible, 2008)

We see this ancient custom played out in Genesis/Beresheit 23.18 and Job 29.7-17.

Righteous Living in Sin City

Sodom’s smuttiness and evil were known, as evidenced by Avraham’s intercession with Yehovah on the city’s behalf (reference Gen 18; Torah Reading 15). More so, word of Sodom’s evil had come to Yehovah’s attention:

(16) And the men rose up from there and looked toward Sedom (aka Sodom) and Avraham went with them to send them away … (20) And YHVH said, “Because the outcry against Sedom and Amorah is great, and because their sin is very heavy, (21) I am going down now to see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry against it that has come to Me, and if not, I know.” (Gen 18; The Scriptures ISR; from Torah Reading 15)

Avraham’s upbringing of Lot in Yah’s righteous ways did not prevent Lot from succumbing to the lure of this city. No doubt his moral compass had become severely challenged because of his living in such a disgusting place.

How many of us willingly live compromised lives, despite our belonging to Yehovah?

Enter Two Powerful Angels to Accomplish the Will of Yehovah

Two holy malachim/messengers/angels walk into Sodom proper (19:1). Lot, upon seeing the two malachim entering the city, no doubt entering through the gateway at which he sat, leaves his post, humbles himself, and graciously meets the two malachim.

The way Lot greets the malachim strongly suggests to me that Lot recognized the two beings as holy malachim:

“… he (i.e. Lot) rose up to meet them (i.e. the two malachim), and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground” (19.1b).

Lot invites the two malachim — almost pleading with them — to accept his hospitality and stay with him and his family in their home for the night (19.2). The two malachim initially decline Lot’s invitation, telling Lot that they would spend the night in the city’s open square (19.2).

In ancient times, it was customary for travelers who had no available lodging accommodations to “sleep in the street wrapped up in their cloaks” (JFB Commentary on the Whole Bible).

I would add that for the malachim to stay in the city’s open square would have allowed them to see for themselves that which Yehovah revealed to Avraham in Genesis 18.20-21.

In just a few moments, we see that the malachim’s suspicions will be confirmed by the very Sodomites, who will seek to assault them while being in Lot’s home.

The two malachim ultimately give in to Lot’s pressuring and accept Lot’s hospitality.

Lot’s Righteous Hospitality: An Imitation of Avraham’s Hospitality

In what could be seen as an imitation of the hospitality that Avraham extended to his three heavenly visitors in Genesis 18.1-8, Lot “made them a feast, and baked unleavened bread (no doubt because of the haste in the meal would have been prepared), and they ate” (19.3).

(I find the mention of Lot serving the two malachim unleavened bread to be interesting. Biblically, unleavened bread is symbolic of sin. And here we have two holy angels, sent by Yah to bring judgment to the sin-filled city.)

The Beginning of the End of Sodom: Evil Attempts to Assault Righteousness

Before the household, besides the two malachim, could settle down for the night, the men of Sodom surround Lot’s home and attempt to assault Lot’s guests.

The Sodomites demand Lot hand over to them the malachim, who were guests in his home for obvious evil purposes (19.4-5).

Lot, in going outside the door of his home, confronts the Sodomites, refusing to comply with their demands (19.6-7). Instead of handing over his heavenly guests to the Sodomites, Lot offers his daughters to the threatening evil men (19.8). I find this to be a desperate move on Lot’s part, since it’s likely that Lot knew the men attempting to assault his guests weren’t the least bit interested in his daughters. And the crowd confirms this in 19.9, warning Lot to “Stand back” (19.9)!

Question: Why hadn’t the crowd assaulted Lot on previous occasions? Seems as though even the evil citizens of Sodom respected Lot’s privileged position in their city, saying to Lot as he sought to quench the inflamed situation: “This one came in to sojourn and should he always judge” (19.9)?

Well, this situation had gotten so out of control that the gathered men’s passions had reached the point that they decide to assault Lot, defiantly declaring to him: “Now we are going to treat you worse than them” as they pressed themselves upon him (19.9).

The malachim rescue Lot from the clutches of the gathered Sodomites, pulling him back into his house, shutting the door behind him (19.10). The powerful malachim, knowing that their pulling of Lot into the confines of his home would not defuse the deteriorating situation, strike the attackers with blindness (19.11). And no doubt this was all the information that the malachim needed to pull the trigger on Sodom’s imminent destruction.

The Revealing of the City’s Demise Revealed to Lot

As the Sodomites writhe blindly on the ground around Lot’s home, the two malachim reveal to Lot the plan to destroy Sodom. They instruct Lot to gather his family and prepare to escape the impending wrathful judgment that would strike the city and its inhabitants (19.12-13).

Lot was unsuccessful, however, in convincing his two sons-in-law that they needed to evacuate the city along with him, his wife, and their wives (i.e. Lot’s two daughters). The text describes Lot’s sons-in-law as thinking Lot was joking (19.14).

Earlier in the text, when offering his two daughters to the gathered Sodomites instead of handing over to them the two malachim, Lot describes his daughters to the attackers as virgins (19.8). Yet here, in 19.14, the text shows his two daughters were married to these two gentlemen. What gives?

It’s conceivable that Lot, in a desperate attempt to have the attackers accept his daughters instead of the malachim, lied to the crowd to make his daughters more appealing to them. Or, conceivably, the two gentlemen in question were betrothed to Lot’s daughters. In Hebrew culture, people treated a formally betrothed woman as a married woman. This seems to be the case here, since the attackers would have likely known all there was to know about Lot and his family. Thus, Lot would likely have not tried to perpetrate such a fraud upon his attackers, knowing they would have had full knowledge of Lot’s family dynamics.

Yah’s Wrathful Judgment Unleashed Upon Sodom

The very next morning, the malachim forcibly usher Lot and his immediate family (Lot himself, his wife, and his two daughters) out of Sodom proper (19.15-17). The malachim instructs Lot to take himself and his family and flee to the mountains. Leave the cities of the Plain altogether (19.19). The malachim resort to extracting Lot and his family from their Sodom home. The text describes Lot’s response to the urging of the malachim for him and his family to leave the city quickly as “… he (Lot) loitered…” (19.16).

And even after being escorted outside the walls of Sodom, Lot pleads with the angels:

(18) “Oh no, Yehovah! (19) Look, please, your servant has found favor in your eyes, and you have increased your loving-commitment which you have shown me by saving my life, but I am unable to escape to the mountains, lest calamity overtake me, and I die. (20) Look, please, this city is near enough to flee to, and it is small (speaking about the city Tso’ar – one of the 5 cities of the Plain). Please, let me escape there. Is it not a small matter? And let my life be saved?”

The malachim have compassion for Lot and his situation and grant him (1) the opportunity to seek refuge in Tso’ar (19.21) with (2) the guarantee that Tso’ar would be spared the destruction that was to befall Sodom (19.21-22).

What we see here from a spiritual perspective is that even in our depravity, Yehovah is merciful and gracious. He grants Lot’s petition to flee and take refuge in Tso’ar.

And as horrible as the destruction of Sodom and of her people may seem to the self-righteous and woke souls among us, scholars have concluded that Yah’s wrathful destruction of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah would have been swift and merciful. The citizens of these evil cities would not suffer, but succumb quickly to the fire and brimstone that would overtake them.

And thus, once Lot secures himself and his family within the confines of Tso’ar just after sunrise, the text states that “Yehovah rained sulfur and fire upon Sedom and Amorah … from heaven” (19.23). And so, all the cities of the plain, except for Tso’ar, are utterly destroyed (19.25). No life whatsoever survives Yah’s wrathful judgment against these evil cities.

If Looks Could Kill

The text states that Lot’s “wife looked back from behind him, and she became a post (some English translations render post as pillar) of salt” (19.26). But does the text not state that the destruction of the city states of the Plain did not suffer destruction until after Lot and his family had found refuge in Tso’ar? This being the case, how did Lot’s wife end up looking back? Did she simply turn around and look back at her beloved city Sodom while in transit to Tso’ar, which conflicts with the text? Or did she wander or venture back to Sodom amid the destruction?

The Hebrew wording in the text – “Lot’s wife, behind him, looked” — suggests an intense, long gaze at the ongoing destruction of the city she had grown accustomed to and loved (Speiser, E. A.; AB Genesis 19.26). There is a likelihood, then, that Lot’s wife either doesn’t enter Tso’ar fully with her family, but she loiters behind Lot and her daughters, in order that she may see for herself what was happening to her beloved city Sodom. I wouldn’t discount the possibility that after she and her family entered Tso’ar shortly thereafter, she leaves the confines of the city to circle back and check out what was happening to her beloved city.

Lot’s wife intentionally violated Yehovah’s explicit instructions to not look back towards Sodom (19.17). Yah had already showed forth tremendous mercy in sparing Lot and his family from His wrathful judgment against Sodom. To abuse that mercy and violate Yah’s explicit instructions is essentially a slap to Yah’s face. How many of us do such things: whereby Yehovah sheds His mercy upon us, yet we are quick to transgress His instructions/commands? When we take advantage of Yah’s mercy, yet intentionally violate His instructions, what are we calling down upon ourselves apart from an extension of the Almighty’s wrathful judgment that He levels against His enemies?

Righteous Often Comes at the Expense of a Broken Heart

Meanwhile, miles away in Mamre (18.1), Avraham witnesses the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (19.27-28). And one can only imagine what was going through Avraham’s mind at that moment. No doubt he had a sick feeling in his stomach, recalling the conversation he’d previously had with Yehovah, likely just a couple days before where He pleaded with the Almighty to spare the inhabitants of the city states of the Plain for the sake of just 10 righteous souls (18.32). I wonder if Avraham, perhaps, thought that his nephew Lot had become so consumed by Sodom’s evil that Yehovah no longer saw righteousness in him and that he perished along with the whole of Sodom. It would not be a stretch to think that Avraham knew of Lot’s whereabouts before the destruction of Sodom. Which is to say, that Avraham was aware of Lot’s compromised life in Sodom. I wouldn’t doubt that at the forefront of Avraham’s mind was the wellbeing of his nephew Lot and his family, whom he loved dearly. This is despite Lot’s pigheadedness (13.5-13). I would venture to guess that Avraham feared that Lot and his family all fell victim to the irresistible maelstrom he was witnessing from his homestead in Mamre. He was likely brokenhearted at the sight of the carnage he witnessed.

But knowing the legendary faith of Avraham, it would not be a stretch to presume that Avraham found peace in knowing that somehow, someway, Yehovah would honor him by saving his nephew. And certainly, history bears this reality out in that Avraham’s intercession did not fall on deaf ears. For Yah ultimately saved the life of Lot and his two daughters. How many of us have pleaded with the Almighty to have mercy upon our loved ones and save them from their respective situations and from their sins? We should never give up interceding on behalf of our loved ones. Yah may just honor our faithful intercessions and petitions and bring about miraculous salvation and restoration of our loved one. Yah is always in charge, and He is always the smartest Person in the room.

From Living in a Mansion to Dwelling in a Cave: Righteousness Often Comes at a Price

Eventually, Lot and his two daughters leave Tso’ar. For what reason, the text is silent, but only that “Alohim remembered Avraham and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow … and Lot went up out of Tso’ar and dwelt in the mountains, and his two daughters were with him, for he was afraid to dwell in Tso’ar. And he and his two daughters dwelt in a cave.” (19.29-30)

Why was Lot afraid to remain in Tso’ar? Did he not desperately petition the two malachim to allow him and his family to take refuge there? Indeed, he did.

Could it have been that the Tso’arians held him responsible for what happened to their sister cities of the Plain? Did the Tso’arians threaten Lot and his daughters out of fear that the same destruction that destroyed the other four cities of the Plain would eventually befall them if Lot and his daughters were permitted to remain within their city? Some commentators suggest Lot was afraid that a similar fate would befall Tso’ar. It’s impossible to tell from the text.

Needless to say, however, we see at this juncture of the story a massive decline in the quality of Lot’s once privileged life. Lot’s fear of living in Tso’ar leads to him living out his remaining days in a cave. At least it would seem so since we read nothing more about Lot in scripture beyond this reading. Modern archaeologists have found evidence suggesting that the mountains surrounding the Qumran Community and the Dead Sea region offered the local ancients refuge in the time of turmoil (ESV Study Bible Commentary).

The Dirty Deed That Leads to Generations of Trouble

While living life at his lowest in a cave along with his daughters, Lot consents to his daughters’ urging that he engages in drinking some wine, no doubt using the excuse that drinking the intoxicant might help him cope with the difficult times they found themselves in (19.31-36). The daughters intentionally use Lot’s altered – drunken – state to become pregnant with their father’s children (i.e. incest). Their excuse for getting their father drunk and being impregnated with their father’s babies was to “preserve the seed of our father” (19.32). The oldest daughter bore unto Lot a son by the name of Moab. This Moab would become the father of the Moabites who would run into conflict with Yisrael during their wilderness sojourn (Num 22, 26) and at various times when Yisrael dwelt in the Land (1 Sam 12; 22; 2 Sam 8; 2 Kin 1; 3; etc.). However, Yah’s plan of salvation, restoration, and redemption would factor heavily into Lot’s situation. For Ruth, a Moabitess, would centuries later become the great-grandmother of King David. And King David would become the sacred line by which our Master Yeshua would emerge. The youngest daughter bears unto Lot a son by the name of Ammon. This Ammon would become the father of the Ammonites who would, like the Moabites, run into conflict with our ancient cousins throughout her history, even up to the time of Ezra and Nehemiah (see Ezra 9.1; Nehemiah 2, 4, 13). Furthermore, the Ammonites instituted the worship of Molech. Molech was the god of the Ammonites, the worship of which featured child sacrifices.

Jewish tradition refers to the actions of Lot and his daughters as a “great sin upon the earth, warranting Lot’s seed to be eliminated from the earth on the Day of Condemnation” (Jubilees 16.7-9). Despite the suggested despicable nature of Lot’s daughters’ actions to perpetuate their father’s lineage, resulting in the emergence of two nations that would centuries later, become a thorn in our ancient cousins’ side – the Moabites and Ammonites – Yah’s sovereignty and omniscience overshadowed the enemy’s plans to thwart the Almighty’s will for His set apart people and the whole of humanity. As just mentioned, Ruth, great grandmother of King David, and matriarch of Yahoshua’s biological line, was a Moabite. So that adage holds true, even in our reading here, that Yehovah will make lemonade out of lemons.

Thoughts and Reflections on Torah Reading 16

As I studied through our reading this week, I couldn’t help but recall that passage in 2 Peter where the apostle refers to Lot as righteous (2:7). And given all that we’ve come to learn about Lot’s life choices, I couldn’t wrap my head around the concept of Lot being referred to as righteous by the apostle. Lot knew of and, for a period of time, no doubt walked in the ways of righteousness. But he ultimately got caught up in the allure of Sodom—and of wealth—and of authority and of notoriety.

We find in 1 John 2:

(15) Do not love the world nor that which is in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. (16) Because all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life (all of which Lot got caught up in)—is not of the Father but is of the world. (The Scriptures ISR)

Righteousness often struggles to overcome the lust of the flesh and the eyes, and the pride of life (i.e. believing that we have arrived; being presumptuous; and full of ourselves). Unfortunately, Lot seemed to have succumbed to these three areas of temptation.

Not that Lot engaged in any unseemly activity in Sodom. But the fact remains that he was compromised in various areas of his life because he embedded himself in an environment where righteousness could not and did not exist.

An unidentified voice from heaven admonishes Yah’s people,

“Come out of her, My people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues” (Rev 18.4; The Scriptures ISR).

Despite all the negative stuff that befell Lot in our reading, we see righteousness prevail. Yehovah facilitated Lot and his family’s rescue as a testimony to his righteousness. Avraham had previously interceded and pleaded for his nephew’s salvation, undoubtedly including Lot in his petition that Sodom be spared if just 10 righteous people were found there (Gen 18.32). Clearly, Yehovah deemed Lot righteous. Righteous enough to save him from His wrathful judgment against Sodom. Yah searches the hearts of humanity (1 Chr 28.9; Rom 8.27; Rev 2.23). And He works with and saves those Whom He chooses. Clearly Yehovah loved Lot. Why? Maybe because of His steadfast love for His friend Avraham, Lot’s uncle. Or maybe Yah saw something in Lot that resonated with Him. Only Yah knows.

What we have before us in this amazing story is a foreshadowing of Yah’s grand plan of salvation, redemption, and restoration. Avraham is a type of Yeshua while Lot foreshadows, us who desperately need deliverance, redemption, and restoration. The patriarch intercedes for others, particularly his nephew Lot, all of whom faced destruction were it not for the intercessors’ pleas. Lot and his family are saved through Avraham’s righteousness. Halleluyah. Lot then is a reflection – a portrait of ourselves. For despite our many deficiencies, Yehovah has chosen us from the billions of souls that inhabit this planet to have a relationship with and to save us and to deem us righteous through His glorious Son and Right Hand, Yahoshua Messiah. And because of His Son’s righteousness, we are being saved from Yah’s coming wrathful judgment against this world. What then, do we do with this amazing reality, beloved, other than worship, trust, obey, thank Him, and love Him even more for extending His Perfect Son’s righteousness to us?